ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CIX.--_To the_ LADY EARLSTON.
[This was probably Lady Earlston, senior, as may be inferred from
Rutherford's reminding her that her "afternoon sun will soon go
down." Her maiden name was Elizabeth Gordon, she being the
daughter of John Gordon of Muirfad, near Creeton, in the north
extremity of Kirkmabreck, next parish to Anwoth (the same who was
afterwards designed of Penningham), the second son of Sir John
Gordon of Lochinvar, and brother to Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar,
father of first Lord Kenmure. (Nisbet's "Heraldry," vol. i.)
_Muirfad_ is now a little croft,--a plain, one-storeyed house,
with a clump of willows and oaks round it, near Palnure Station.]
(FOLLOWING CHRIST NOT EASY--CHILDREN NOT TO BE OVER-LOVED--JOY IN THE
LORD.)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear how your
soul prospereth. I exhort you to go on in your journey; your day is
short, and your afternoon sun will soon go down. Make an end of your
accounts with your Lord; for death and judgment are tides that bide no
man. Salvation is supposed to be at the door, and Christianity is
thought an easy task; but I find it hard, and the way strait and
narrow, were it not that my Guide is content to wait on me, and to
care for a tired traveller. Hurt not your conscience with any known
sin. Let your children be as so many flowers borrowed from God: if the
flower die or wither, thank God for a summer loan of them, and keep
good neighbourhood, to borrow and lend[205] with Him. Set your heart
upon heaven, and trouble not your spirit with this clay-idol of the
world, which is but vanity, and hath but the lustre of the rainbow in
the air, which cometh and goeth with a flying March-shower. Clay is
the idol of bastards, not the inheritance of the children.
[205] To be on good terms with.
My Lord hath been pleased to make many unknown faces laugh upon me,
and hath made me well content of a borrowed fireside, and a borrowed
bed. I am feasted with the joys of the Holy Ghost, and my royal King
beareth my charges honourably. I love the smell of Christ's sweet
breath better than the world's gold. I would I had help to praise Him.
The great Messenger of the Covenant, the Son of God, establish you on
your Rock, and keep you to the day of His coming.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,